Sinema’s received nearly $200,000 in contributions from the airline industry; $54,350 in 2022 alone
Today the Intercept reports on yet another instance of Kyrsten Sinema taking corporate cash and doing their bidding. Sinema took nearly $200,000 from the airline industry over the past two election cycles, only to propose an industry-backed measure to reduce pilot training requirements – one which Sen. Tammy Duckworth, herself a former pilot, warned would result in “blood on your hands.”
As The Intercept notes, “Sinema has cast herself as a maverick in Washington, but her time there has produced the same sort of swampy network as a traditional senator. Her former aides have become lobbyists for the airlines, and her amendment put her in line with advocacy from industry associations.”
This comes on the same day as The Associated Press called Sinema out for taking credit for a banking regulation bill after carrying water for the banking industry following the Silicon Valley bank collapse, and a long history of taking corporate money then doing their bidding in Congress, including for Wall Street, private equity, Big Pharma, the fossil fuel industry, the student loan industry, cryptocurrency, and multi-level marketing schemes.
“It’s no surprise that Sinema is once again putting the interests of her corporate donors over her constituents, given her long history of doing exactly this,” said Replace Sinema spokesperson Sacha Haworth. “Despite the reputation she’s trying to create for herself, Sinema is bought and sold by her donors. The ‘maverick’ is actually a Swamp Creature.”
Last week, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) took the extraordinary step of calling out Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s dangerous proposal at the behest of the airline industry to loosen pilot training requirements. Duckworth explicitly said the proposal will result in “blood on your hands,” and she elaborated: “Now is not the time to put corporate profits ahead of the lives of our constituents who may want to board a commercial flight in the future.”
The conflict over Sinema’s dangerous proposal stalled the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill, with Senate markup of that bill now indefinitely delayed.
Read more:
The Intercept: Kyrsten Sinema Moves To Slash Pilot Training After Taking Airline Cash
June 23, 2023 // Daniel Boguslaw
Sinema’s campaign received an influx of cash over the last year from the airline industry. The donations would be crucial to the senator as she strikes out as a newly christened independent during a challenging reelection bid. Without her Democratic Party affiliation, Sinema heads into the 2024 race without the political or financial backing of her former party.
[…] SInema has cast herself as a maverick in Washington, but her time there has produced the same sort of swampy network as a traditional senator. Her former aides have become lobbyists for the airlines, and her amendment put her in line with advocacy from industry associations.
[…]“This poison pill amendment undermines the current aviation safety regime that has resulted in the safest period in air travel in history,” the union wrote. “The proposal codifies a training regime that is unstructured and introduces an unacceptable risk to our air transportation system.” The group complained that a lack of specifics in the amendment could result in subpar training, “including types of emergency training.”
Arizona Republic: ‘Blood on your hands’: Democratic senator rips pilot training rule backed by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema
June 16, 2023 // Ron Hansen
Politico: ‘Blood on your hands’: Duckworth blasts Sinema for pilot training proposal
June 15, 2023 // Irie Sentner
Washington Examiner: FAA reauthorization bill markup stalled in Senate committee amid pilot training
June 15, 2023 // Emily Jacobs & Samantha-Jo Rich
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